Vacuolar system distribution in Arabidopsis tissues, visualized using GFP fusion proteins.

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) allows the direct visualization of gene expression and the subcellular localization of fusion proteins in living cells. The localization of different GFP fusion proteins in the secretory system was studied in stably transformed Arabidopsis plants cv. Wassilewskaja. Secreted GFP (SGFP) and GFP retained in the ER (GFP-KDEL) confirmed patterns already known, but two vacuolar GFPs (GFP-Chi and Aleu-GFP) labelled the Arabidopsis vacuolar system for the first time, the organization of which appears to depend on cell differentiation. GFP stability in the vacuoles may depend on pH or degradation, but these vacuolar markers can, nevertheless, be used as a tool for physiological studies making these plants suitable for mutagenesis and gene-tagging experiments.